Squish! “Squish” can relate to a sensory experience—an uncanny, yet pleasurable sensation resembling the sound and feel of walking on mud or pressing into a soft surface. Besides this sensory connotation, “squish” is a term often used by the asexual community to identify aromantic crushes, signifying a desire for a platonic or non-romantic relationship with another person. Extending beyond romantic and sexual paradigms to encompass a profound longing for intimate connections, the word captures a yearning for deep bonds that embrace mental and physical intimacy without sexual undertones. This duality, both intriguing and slightly unsettling, abject yet pleasurable, is the thematic cornerstone of Squish! In the Forest.

The works featured in the exhibition delve into the sensual ambiguity of non-sexual (or perhaps more-than-sexual) encounters and their perceived uncanniness. Artists explore the material and aective resonances of squishing, using sound, storytelling, and visual language to question the norms of relating. What is closeness? What is togetherness? What is intimacy? What constitutes ‘the sexual’? Are all these terms interconnected, or perhaps one does not signify the presence of the other?